The Ascension of Our Lord Jesus Christ

Last Thursday, May 14th, we marked the feast day of the Ascension of Our Lord Jesus Christ.  The day comes exactly forty days after the resurrection....Here is a lovely prayer from W E Scudamore (19th c. Church of England priest and scholar - Hat-tip KSH).

O God, whose dearly beloved Son was, by thy mighty power, exalted that he might prepare a place in thy kingdom of glory for them that love thee: So lead and uphold us, O merciful Lord, that we may both follow the holy steps of his life here upon earth, and may enter with him hereafter into thy everlasting rest; that where he is, we may also be; through the merits of the same Jesus Christ our Lord.

And from Dali...

Doubting Thomas

Biola University's Lent Project looks at St. Thomas ....with a meditation  which includes the following sonnet and a wonderful painting by artist Rene Klarenbeek - Doubting Thomas (after Rembrandt)  .

GRACE FOR THOSE WHO DOUBT

St. Thomas the Apostle

By Malcolm Guite

‘We do not know . . . how can we know the way?

Courageous master of the awkward question,

You spoke the words the others dared not say

And cut through their evasion and abstraction.

O doubting Thomas, father of my faith,

You put your finger on the nub of things:

We cannot love some disembodied wraith,

But flesh and blood must be our king of kings.

Your teaching is to touch, embrace, anoint,

Feel after him and find him in the flesh.

Because he loved your awkward counterpoint,

The Word has heard and granted you your wish.

O place my hands with yours, help me divine

The wounded God whose wounds are healing mine.

For more information , please follow the link found HERE

To view a larger version of the above painting, follow the link found HERE

The Lord is Risen Indeed!!!

                                                   A Blessed Easter to You All!

The Treachery of Judas - Andrey Mironov - 2009

Below is a painting which has been my companion during Lent.  I am curious about the cloaked and veiled figure in the foreground.  Who is he?  Where are you in the painting?  Below is a link to a larger version of the painting if you would like to look at it more closely (which I recommend)..

                                                          The Treachery of Judas

Arts and Faith: Lent

This is a lovely website with a number different possibilities... Below is a sample from the Arts and Faith through Lent page.  If you click on the link below, it will take you to the main Arts and Faith page and from there to the Home Page of Loyola Press.  There are meditations for each week in Lent, Holy Week and Easter Day.  Check it Out!

Arts and Faith: Lent - Week Four

 

Enter into a visual prayer experience this Lent with Arts & Faith: Lent. Each week we’ll provide a video commentary about a work of art inspired by the Sunday Scriptures. Use these videos to take a new look at this season of spiritual renewal through the lens of sacred art.

Commentary is by Daniella Zsupan-Jerome, assistant professor of liturgy, catechesis, and evangelization at Loyola University New Orleans. She holds a bachelor’s degree in theology from the University of Notre Dame, a master’s degree in liturgy from St. John’s University in Collegeville, a master’s degree in religion and the arts from Yale Divinity School, and a Ph.D. in theology and education from Boston College. Her unique background in faith and art brings to life a new way of observing Lent and understanding the season on a more personal level

Lenten Thoughts on Giving Up

The following is an excerpt from an essay by the Rev. Dan Heishman, head of the National Association  of  Episcopal Schools..I appreciate his take on "giving up."

We often associate this season of Lent with giving things up—some indulgence, some bad habit—and we often view the activity of giving something up for Lent as an exercise in self-denial. While it certainly can be that, and there can be real value in self-denial, this process also turns out to be an exercise in the much larger task of giving up in life. A small act of giving up turns out to be a testing ground, a spiritual preparation for one of the great surprises of adulthood—just how much we will be about relinquishing things, illusions, or self-destructive activities.

I also thought about one of the hardest things for a mature school community (substitute, church family) to accept, that it cannot do all or be all things for all people. Fewer prospects are more difficult for a school (church) to bear than having to consider ways in which it occasionally must give up on the seductive activity of constantly taking on one more project, program, or expectation. As with all forms of giving up, we worry that it is a sign of defeat.  (Emphasis mine).

One of my favorite writers used to talk about Lent as being “Easter in disguise.” Faced with the sobering task of having to give up on something, we do not in turn face a diminished future. In fact, the process of giving up...is the entry point to a new and much fuller life.

Confused About ISIS? Read This!

     
             © Provided by National Journal Syrian Kurds Battle IS To Retain Control Of Kobani

What is the Islamic State?

Where did it come from, and what are its intentions? The simplicity of these questions can be deceiving, and few Western leaders seem to know the answers. In December, The New York Times published confidential comments by Major General Michael K. Nagata, the Special Operations commander for the United States in the Middle East, admitting that he had hardly begun figuring out the Islamic State's appeal. "We have not defeated the idea," he said. "We do not even understand the idea." In the past year, President Obama has referred to the Islamic State, variously, as "not Islamic" and as al-Qaeda's "jayvee team," statements that reflected confusion about the group, and may have contributed to significant strategic errors.

The group seized Mosul, Iraq, last June, and already rules an area larger than the United Kingdom. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has been its leader since May 2010, but until last summer, his most recent known appearance on film was a grainy mug shot from a stay in U.S. captivity at Camp Bucca during the occupation of Iraq. Then, on July 5 of last year, he stepped into the pulpit of the Great Mosque of al-Nuri in Mosul, to deliver a Ramadan sermon as the first caliph in generations—upgrading his resolution from grainy to high-definition, and his position from hunted guerrilla to commander of all Muslims. The inflow of jihadists that followed, from around the world, was unprecedented in its pace and volume, and is continuing.

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